Category Archives: Childhood and children

“We have left the habit of collecting cow dung in the scorching heat, we no longer collect vegetables from the fields but we cannot forget our dances and music and attending our village fairs. We have forgotten the habit of putting a towel on our shoulder and embroider the end-pieces of our towels but we have not forgotten our childhood friendship.” – From a modern Santali song shared by the Ghosaldanga Bishnubati Adibasi Trust (West Bengal)
https://indiantribalheritage.org/?p=25573

“Women have profound traditional and contemporary knowledge about the natural world around them and hence there’s a necessity to make policies mindful of the connection between environment and gender. [T]hat’s why it’s largely in the hands of women to sensitise our children towards the ecological heritage. Big changes always begin with small steps and the right place is always the home.” – Writer-activist Mari Marcel Thekaekara (The Hindu, 27 January 2017)
https://www.indiantribalheritage.org/?p=22373

“[N]ew pedagogic practices require to be evolved in order to execute various developmental programmes. In doing so, good practices that exist in the society may turn out to be very handy. In case of tribal societies, for example, there are two striking aspects with regard to caring for the child and nurturing the young. One is the prevalence of breast feeding and the other is the tradition of kin/community care of the children. It is the kin care that explains as to why it is rare to find destitution and begging among tribal population, including tribal children. Equally important in this respect is the emphasis on ethics of work, which the children internalise quite early in life. Things have however begun to change because of displacement due to development projects and lack of rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced population.” – From “The Status of Tribal Children in India: A historical perspective, 2011” (Opportunities, Working Paper No. 7, Institute for Human Development, United Nations Children’s Fund, India)
http://www.ihdindia.org/pdf/virginius_xaxa.pdf